University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes
September 27, 2003 | Football
Sept. 27, 2003
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Phillip Fulmer:
"I'm really glad to get that win. Sometimes you win a game like that where you are outplayed. We made the plays to win. We didn't play our best. You are going to have games like this were you don't play well. We didn't play well period. Our tackling is suspect.
"So much of the game is emotion. I think we left some of it on the field last week.
"Dustin Colquitt was special tonight. Whatever award they give the punter, the Ray Guy Award, he deserves it after his performance. All of our special teams did well. Dustin won the game tonight. We had field position because of our punter and they didn't.
"For them to get a pass interference call, we had to screw it up. We had good coverage all night.
"I was concerned going into the game about Demetris Summers. He is a fine back. We didn't tackle well. They did a good job of moving around and getting him holes. Their quarterback is one of those guys that if he gets hot, watch out.
"James Banks is a good athlete learning how to play receiver. I can't remember him getting another ball all night. He came up to me after the game and gave me a game ball. I looked at it and it had "DB" on it. I think he was trying to pull a fast one."
SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ:
"They won. Our players played a heck of a game, played their hearts out. Everything seemed to go against them. Their punter was tremendous. Our offensive line played well and our quarterback did a great job. We had too many motion penalties.
"They set the clock quicker than we expected. They said it was an SEC ruling, one I wasn't aware of. The crowd noise was a factor. You can't check off if you can't hear. They made a couple of plays. We had a couple of missed assignments. Tennessee is a good football team. The field position was detrimental to us. Our guys competed. They persevered. On Tennessee's play before the touchdown, it should have been a no-gain play. You have to give them credit.
"In the second half, our defense had an excellent game, never letting them in field goal range. The TD in over time was a disappointment. Our offensive line is young ands coming of age. I think Summers helps them. You can't spot Tennessee seven points like we did in the early part of the game, but we fought back. This is a good Tennessee team. I told you this week we'd play well. We had no turnovers except one of no consequence at the end of the first half.
"It's a different thing every year in this game. I'm not accepting that. We played our hearts out. We will go on from here. You guys will "nice effort, then write it's the same old South Carolina."
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TENNESSEE PLAYER QUOTES
Constantin Ritzmann, DE: "I think it was a good effort by both teams. South Carolina gave us a good game. We're proud of each other. We [the defense] believe in our offense and their capability to score. We thought we did a good job of holding them to a field goal [in overtime], and knew the offense could score. Florida was a good team and South Carolina was pretty good today, too. We never said we were the best team in the country. We're working to be the best in the country. They [South Carolina] played the hardest physically of any team this year. They had no doubt in their mind they could win."
Dustin Colquitt, P: We always say games are won by the offense, defense and special teams. It was that way tonight. Everybody played well. When it came down to it we stuck it in. [On his punting success this year] The snaps have been there. The guys have been fanning out well."
Casey Clausen, QB: "Coming into the game, we had some certain formations that we thought we could use on [South Carolina's defense]--obviously our three-wide formation (was one of those formations)."
On the game-winning touchdown pass: "I looked over at James and told him I was coming to him. Big players make big plays, and it was a big win for us."
"I'm happy with the win, but I'm disappointed with the way the offense looked in the second half. If we want to get to where we want to go, we've got to play more consistent. We're still looking for that complete game. We have to play four quarters. That should be our goal on offense the rest of the season--play four quarters."
James Banks, WR (On the game-winning touchdown pass): "We had certain formations we thought we could take advantage of against them. When we got into that overtime and they kicked that field goal, my teammates came over to me and told me that we're not going into another overtime. We're going to win this game with six points. Cedric Houston ran the ball great to get us down there. And because he was running the ball so well, I came over and told Casey (Clausen) that I was (being covered) one-on-one. I just told him to throw me the ball, and he looked at me and said, `Here it comes.' I just thank God that I caught it"
(On his progress at wide receiver): "Practice makes perfect, and each and every day in practice I get more comfortable with finding the flight of the ball and knowing what to do against the DBs. The ball has been coming to me in certain situations and I'm just taking advantage of my opportunities. I think we have plenty of receivers that can do it. The ball just happened to come to me."
SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES
Jermaine Harris, DB: "We played hard. We gave it everything we had, but we just made some mistakes. Sometimes things just don't go your way."
(Thoughts on CB Dunta Robinson and the game-winning TD) "Dunta is a great corner. He made some great plays out there today. We are not putting this on him. This is a team effort and we all worked hard and Dunta is a great corner."
Dondrial Pinkins, QB: "We prepared hard all week and the guys came out and played well. We just couldn't pull it of in the end. We just have to focus and go out and play hard and try to come out and perform and win our remaining games."
(Thoughts about watching the game-winning TD): "Once I saw there was no pass interference I knew it was over. We just have to live with it."
